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HARRISBURG — The collapse last week of an 18-year-old state law banning same-sex marriages is the latest in a series of court decisions that are reshaping Pennsylvania’s public landscape.

The decision by U.S. District Court Judge John E. Jones III to strike down the 1996 state law defining marriage as between a man and woman was dramatic for its immediate impact. Within hours of that decision, same-sex couples who had been denied the legal recognition of marriage were going to county courthouses to obtain marriage licenses.

In recent months, two state courts have issued rulings to strike down the 2012 Voter ID law and a key section of the 2012 natural gas drilling impact fee law.

These three cases reached the courts by different routes, but what’s striking about each is that once the courts issued their rulings it was as if those laws had melted away.

Partly this is due to decisions by embattled Gov. Tom Corbett not to appeal Jones’ ruling on the marriage law and the Commonwealth Court ruling throwing out a requirement under the Voter ID law that voters show photo identification at the polls.

Corbett said it’s extremely unlikely an appeal of Jones’ decision would have succeeded. He said he continues to believe as a Roman Catholic that marriage is between one man and one woman.

“My duties as governor require that I follow the laws as interpreted buy the courts and make a judgment as to the likelihood of a successful appeal,” he added.

That brought Corbett unusual praise from the American Civil Liberties Union for “letting the constitutional principles of freedom and equality ring throughout Pennsylvania.”

“Once again, Governor Corbett has failed to finish the fight,” said Metcalfe.

Metcalfe has introduced legislation to put the marriage issue to a statewide referendum.

Just three weeks ago, Corbett said he wouldn’t appeal the lower court ruling that the photo ID requirement is unconstitutional to the state Supreme Court. A Commonwealth Court judge said it put an unreasonable burden on the right to vote. The requirement was to have gone into effect in the 2012 presidential election, but it was put on hold by the court after lawsuits were filed.

Corbett was praised by the ACLU and condemned by Metcalfe for that move.

The governor’s attorneys asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling last December declaring unconstitutional a provision in the impact fee law giving state agencies oversight over local drilling zoning ordinances. A group of municipalities had challenged the law.

The court rejected the governor’s request last February. Not only did the Supreme Court knock down the local zoning override but in doing so it affirmed the importance of Pennsylvania’s Environmental Rights Amendment in deciding these cases.

ROBERT SWIFT is Harrisburg bureau chief for Times-Shamrock Communications newspapers. Readers may email him at rswift@timesshamrock.com.

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